Meanwhile, after a respectable period of mourning, Lizzie searches for another husband, a dashing 'Corsair' more in keeping with her extravagantly romantic fantasies.

On the one hand, the diamonds are valuable and Lizzie may not have a legal claim to them, but on the other, they do not want to antagonise the mother of the heir to the family estate (Lizzie having only a life interest). The indignant Eustace family lawyer, Mr Camperdown, strives to retrieve the necklace, putting the Eustaces in an awkward position. She lies about the terms under which they were given to her, leaving their ownership unclear.

Though they belong to her husband's estate (and thus eventually will be the property of her son), Lizzie refuses to relinquish them. The diamonds of the book's title are a necklace, a family heirloom that Sir Florian gave to Lizzie to wear. (Trollope comments that Lizzie sees lies as 'more beautiful than the truth.') Before he dies, the disillusioned Sir Florian discovers all this, but does not think to change the generous terms of his will. While clever and beautiful, Lizzie has several character flaws the greatest of these is an almost pathological delight in lying, even when it cannot benefit her. The plot centres on Lizzie Greystock, a fortune-hunter who ensnares the sickly, dissipated Sir Florian Eustace and is soon left a very wealthy widow and mother.

In this novel, the characters of Plantagenet Palliser, his wife Lady Glencora and their uncle the ailing Duke of Omnium are in the background. It is the third of the ' Palliser' series of novels. The Eustace Diamonds is a novel by Anthony Trollope, first published in 1871 as a serial in the Fortnightly Review. July 1871 – February 1873 (serial) October 1872 (book)

The eustace diamonds